It is well recognized that for hundreds of years mankind has struggled to maintain or achieve a body weight that is concurrently healthy and appealing. This is a battle that is rarely won because human physiology causes the generation of "hunger" pains when in fact there is no eminent need to eat, probably a carry-over from the primal days when man needed to eat substantial quantities of food when it was available, to last until the next food could be obtained, as through hunting, trapping, and the like.
Unfortunately, because mankind suffers from unnecessary "hunger" pains or at least unnecessary urges to eat, when food is not really necessary, and due to the fact that food in most countries is readily available on an almost constant basis, body weight is allowed to increase beyond the point necessary to maintain good health and in fact becomes, in many instances, a health risk. The problem is how to reduce food intake, while eliminating these primal hunger pains or urges to eat, to allow reduced food intake or dieting to control body weight.
Although many attempts have been made to cause one to feel "full" or satiated, when the stomach is not in fact filled with food, such as by filling the stomach with fiber or other low or no-calorie materials, each solution to date has had its own problems. For example, if one intakes substantial amounts of fiber, that also requires that one expel large quantities, as well, causing man to suffer gastrointestinal discomfort. Others cannot tolerate such high volumes of fiber, and the like, for other reasons.
Another approach has been the use of chemical appetite suppressants. Although such suppressants exist, they either do not cause a true feeling of satiation to exist, such as that brought on by a "full" stomach, or they cause undesirable side-effects, such as anxiety, hyperactivity, or the like.
What has been needed, heretofore, but has not been achievable is a low-bulk material which suppresses appetite and causes one to feel satiated, without causing undesirable side-effects.